On Amateur Alchemy and Idiotic Inventions
by Kai517TeenWriter
Summary: Varian's story, as I see it.
1. Foreword

Dear Readers-

You are about to embark on a journey- perhaps one of the most amazing journeys I have heard of to this day.

This journey is the life of a boy named Varian.

You may find yourself relating to young Varian- who was only eighteen when he began writing this story- or wondering "what happened? Why did you do that?"

Either way, there's one guarantee- you will laugh. You will cry.

That's the important thing: to enjoy this story.

That's what was intended when Varian started writing his story, many years ago.

-Cassandra


	2. Beginnings

Or: The First Time I Nearly Destroyed My Village

Imagine: a peaceful village.

The sun is just starting its descent toward the horizon, and people are out and about. They are talking, buying and selling things, even just sitting to read or sew. Children are up and about, running and screaming and playing.

And then there's a slight tremor.

Even the youngest child is aware of the fact that (a) earthquakes don't normally feel like that one did, and that (b) it was an extreme oddity for an earthquake to happen around those parts.

Everyone stopped everything they were doing as the ground trembled again and a young boy, about twelve or thirteen, came running into the center of the village- black hair sticking to his forehead in clumps, blue-grey eyes looking around frantically.

Indeed, that boy was me.

And I had just made a terrible mistake- or a simple miscalculation, or something, anything, really.

"Varian."

My father's voice boomed out from the silence as he stepped towards me. "My boy. Stay here. It's safer."

Already, some of the villagers were backing away from me, almost as if they knew what I had done.

"I- I can't, Father," I muttered, "I can't stay here. I... I think I know what's causing the tremors. I think I know how to stop it."

Anything he was going to say or do immediately left him as he narrowed his eyes, frowning. "What is that supposed to mean, Varian?"

I kept my eyes on the ground. I already knew that everyone was staring, listening in. Quite possibly whispering about how I was an oddball. A dangerous oddball. How they were glad that I was a bit of a recluse. A recluse that "belonged" to someone that wasn't them.

I nervously scratched the hair on the back of my head, twisting my foot, burrowing it into the dirt. "I- I, um, I may have been the one that, that caused the tremors," I whispered so only my father could hear, "I can't go into it right now, because I really have to go... to go shut everything off. You know, before it reaches maximum strength and power and quite possibly destroys the village."

He nodded firmly, silently telling me to just go and shut it all off. His face told me that I was in for a serious talking-to later.

I nodded back and started running again, this time letting nothing stop me.

My invention- a machine about waist-high that would allow people to wash loads of laundry simply by pushing a few buttons- sat inside my lab, just on the outskirts of the village.

I suppose every aspect of my life involved "outskirts." Outskirts of Corona. Outskirts of the village. Even the fact that I was on the outskirts of any and all social circles.

But I digress.

"What went wrong?!"

I pulled out a few tools to help me shut the machine off and, in the future, help me take it apart to figure out where the heck I went wrong. I twisted some knobs using the wrench, pulled some levers, and finally...

All of the pent-up pressure seemed to just leave the machine all at once, seemingly letting out a sigh of relief.

"That was close," I mumbled, "too close..."

Apparently, not all of the "anger" had left the machine. With one last, low rumble, it shook the entire ground, both inside and outside of my lab.

Darn it.

Some of the villagers screamed as everyone simultaneously realized the effects of this "earthquake"- as everyone realized that the entire village could quite possibly fall.

"Everyone," my father bellowed from atop a boulder set in the center of our village, "calm down this instant! Everything is going to be just fine-"

He cast a glance over his shoulder, in the direction of my lab.

"And we've got people working on fixing the situation at this very moment. All I ask of you is for you to calm down as we evacuate into a nearby village- only temporarily, only for a little while- until everything is cleared."

Even from down in my lab, I could hear the villagers groaning and sighing and muttering things beneath their breath. I caught a few of these things- and, of course, I happened to catch the ones that hurt the most.

"That good-for-nothing son of his-"

"When will he realize that-"

"Never learn-"

"I hope this helps him see that his son is not normal. Is not safe. Is a threat to Old Corona and our society-"

Everyone would be safe and secure over there, but here I was- the guy who was just trying to make life better for everyone but ended up making them pay for it instead.

I watched as the people started to move, leaving our village behind for a short time. The ground was still moving with big, dangerous tremors despite the fact that I had shut down the washing machine prototype.

An extremely big tremor came and I could see some of the cottages and building starting to give way; the rooves starting to crumble a little.

"Varian! Are you almost done turning that thing off?"

"I turned it off, Dad. It had to release all of the pressure that was pent up inside of it, and apparently that's where it released to."

My father groaned before we both realized that the tremors had stopped.

Aside from a few misplaced objects and semi-crumbled rooves, and a couple of cracks in the ground, the effects seemed to be very minimal on the village. I sighed with relief.

The nightmare seemed to be over.

"He will take full responsibility for all damaged property?"

Oh no. Please, no.

I understood that it was my fault that it had happened, but full responsibility for all damaged property? No way, Jose.

"Of course Varian will," my father agreed, "of course he will take full responsibility for all damaged property."

I quietly moaned, fighting the urge to lash out in any way, shape, or form.

Already, the villagers hated me, and they would find any bit of vulnerability- example being "easy to anger"- and use it for their cause.

No way would I fuel the fire. Instead, I would consent and put in my all, if only to earn back their trust.

I may never earn their admiration and respect outside of the fact that I was the son of the leader of the village- well, technically, we have no leader, but... Everyone looks up to my father. They all revere him. It's almost like he IS a leader.

"We've got a cart going to Corona first thing tomorrow," a man in the back of the crowd piped up, "he can hitch a ride to get some high-quality supplies in order to fix these things."

"First thing tomorrow?" my father echoed.

"First thing tomorrow."

"I'll consider it."

But I already knew that my father would send me.


End file.
